Jewish Psychosomatics – The Connection Between Blood Circulation and Spiritual Problems
Jewish Psychosomatics – The Connection Between Blood Circulation and Spiritual Problems
In accordance with the will of the One Who performs miracles and joins body and soul, the existence of the body and its connection with the soul, without which life would not be possible, depend on two things:
1) blood – the product of the digestion of the food and water a person consumes;
2) air, which a person breathes.
These functions are performed by the windpipe and the esophagus;
The two organs are separate so that the ritual slaughter of animals can be performed properly.
Although air, food, and drink are necessary for human life, there is a difference between them. We eat and drink only at certain times. As our Sages comment (Yoma 75b): “At first, the Jewish people were like pecking chickens, until Moshe came and established times for eating.”
The same is stated by blood circulation: “A person’s health depends on the steady flow of blood, which the heart pumps and circulates throughout all parts of the body. When the circulation of this ‘spirit of life’ is normal, a person is completely healthy, because all parts of the body are interconnected and each receives its proper share of vital energy from the heart. But if a blood clot forms in a blood vessel, restricting or completely blocking the circulation of the blood and the ‘spirit of life’ contained within it, the connection between the body’s parts and the heart is severed, and the person becomes ill or (G-d forbid) dies.”
Using a metaphor, one may say that all the souls of the Jewish people are parts of the “body” of the Shechinah. (Zohar, vol. 3, p. 231b)
The Shechinah is the manner in which the Divine light dwells in the created world, sustaining the existence and life of all Creation. The Shechinah performs in the world a function analogous to that of the heart. This teaches us that when all souls are interconnected and support one another – “whirling, whirling, moving is the spirit” (Kohelet 1:6) – the flow of Divine life energy in the world circulates without obstruction.
The human body is formed from the four lower elements, which include good and evil.
The human body itself is composed of the good found in these elements: fire, air, water, and dust.
And from the evil in the human body arose four types of bile: white (lymph), black (melancholy), red (blood), yellow (bile). And when the aspect of evil in any one of the elements gains ascendancy over the good, illness and disease befall a person.
The Divine soul is nourished through the fulfillment of the Torah, which contains 613 (248+365) commandments, corresponding to the 613 limbs of the soul, and is called “bread”: “Come, eat of my bread.” (Mishlei 9:5)
Each of the body’s 248 limbs is nourished by a particular commandment associated with it, and if a person lacks one of the commandments, then a certain limb will also lack nourishment.
(Based on Rabbi Chaim Vital’s book Sha’arei Kedushah)
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Tags: Parts of the Body, Circulation, Jewish Psychosomatics, Jewish Psychosomatics — The Connection Between Blood Circulation and Spiritual Problems, The Connection Between Blood Circulation and Spiritual Problems, Rabbi Chaim Vital
